Behind the Scenes at Bridge City Tool Works

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January, 16th, 2017

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”— Mark Twain

Drivel Starved Nation!

I got so fed up with the voluminous holiday email blasts in December, we spared you and kept our antsy fingers off our keyboards until today. How cool is that?

First, the Portland Weather Report: As some of you may know, I am an Iowa son, and no stranger to snow. In fact, it is one of the reasons I wanted to move to Portland. No snow shoveling here.Continue reading →

November, 29th, 2016

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”— Albert Einstein

Drivel Starved Nation! Yesterday we did an email blast for the Gyro Air which I reviewed in a previous post. This morning I received an email from China and my initial reaction was “Oh shit!” Continue reading →

November, 23rd, 2016

"Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account. "— Anne Wilson Schaef

Drivel Starved Nation; A couple of months ago, I broke the news about a new dust collector technology that we are employing in our prototype shop – the Gyro Air. Before I get into the details of this collection system, it is important to understand why I want to ditch my standard cyclone collector — which likely looks just like yours. Continue reading →

September, 20th, 2016

“Always do things right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”— Mark Twain

Drivel Starved Nation;

Over the past three months, I have been working on Commemorative Tool #19. For those of you new to this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog, we make one tool each year (well almost) that we will never duplicate. They are considered the finest series of tools in our almost 34 year history. (The first Commemorative Tool was introduced in 1991 or 1992, I am too old to remember.) Continue reading →

August, 16th, 2016

"Of all the possible utensils that could have been invented to eat rice with, how did TWO STICKS win out?"— Unknown

Drivel Starved Nation-

Today we have some cool things to share.

A while back, I shared how the grids for my sculpture “Fog of War” were made and you can see the pics here.

It is much harder to do accurate work in small scale but it can be made easier with an approach that yields consistent results. In the case of the grids mentioned above, the components all had to be the exact same thickness. This was surprisingly easy because all of our small planes accept depth skids which makes thickness planing thin stock a breeze. Without depth skids, there would be no Chopstick Master.

July, 6th, 2016

"There can be no intelligent control of the lead danger in industry unless it is based on the principle of keeping the air clear from dust and fumes."
— Alice Hamilton

Drivel Starved Nation;

I am pleased to share that my Gyro Air™ arrived yesterday. Before I share my progress, here are the latest tools headed for the auction block this week…

I probably should have kept this for myself, but I already have 3. That is how cool this tool is. AND, it is the most requested discontinued Commemorative Tool according to the all-knowing Consuelo! Continue reading →

June, 21st, 2016

"A thousand years ago the Chinese had an entirely codified kitchen while the French were still gnawing on bones. Chopsticks have been around since the fourth century B.C. Forks didn't show up in England until 1611, and even then they weren't meant for eating but just to hold the meat still while you hacked at it with your knife."
— Ruth Reichl

Drivel Starved Nation,

As always, you are the first to learn what is happening behind the scenes here at BCTW via this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog!

I have great news to share regarding our Chopstick Master. Version 2 of the CSM is going to be announced real soon and the details are below. But first, a pic; Continue reading →

June, 15th, 2016

Drivel Starved Nation!

Last fall when I was in China, I was able to witness the introduction of a new type of dust collector (Pat. Pending) to the international market. The makers, Harvey Works, the same folks that make our innovative Chopstick Master™ unveiled a new dust collector concept that was 5 years in the making — it is called the Gyro Air™.